I have a thing for obscure laws about human behavior. Two of my favorites are Carlson’s and Illich’s Laws.

Carlson’s law, or the law of homogeneous sequences, states:

Interrupted work will always be less effective and will take more time than if completed in a continuous manner.

Sune Carlson (1909 - 1999) was a Swedish economist and a pioneer of what today we call deep work. He preached about doing one thing at a time and minimizing interruptions. And he didn’t have the Internet!

Carlson’s Law may seem at odds with Illich’s Law — a.k.a. the law of diminishing returns:

Optimal productivity is reached with an appropriate balance between working time and resting time, as productivity decreases after a certain period of continuous work.

Illich also created the concept of negative productivity. After a certain amount of time, productivity decreases so much that mistakes due to fatigue have a higher impact than the actual things you get done.

These laws might seem at odds, but they are not. Carlson was against involuntary interruptions that make you switch context, but, like Illich, was all in favor of short breaks that allow you to recharge and regain focus.

Many times we get advice that seems contradictory, but it’s usually because we miss some context.